Object Description
JEBEZ BLIGH
(1832-1900)
Mushrooms in a Basket
Signed and dated l.r.: J BLIGH / 74
Watercolour
Framed
22.5 by 31.5 cm., 9 by 12 in.
(frame size 42.5 by 51 cm., 16 ¾ by 20 in.)
Jebez Bligh (sometimes spelt Bly) was born in Worcester, the son of John Bligh (1779-1833) a porcelain decorator working for both the Chamberlain (Worcester) Factory and Flight & Barr. In 1830 he had decorated the coronation service for William IV, now in Windsor Castle. John Bligh died shortly after the birth of his son and once old enough Jebez started worked at a solicitor’s clerk. Following the death of his mother in the early 1860s he moved to London and later Shorne, near Maidstone, Kent. He then followed his father’s profession and worked as a still life painter, some of his finest works being birds’ nests and baskets of mushrooms or fruit. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1867. Works by him are in the collection of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago.